February PMS Challenge 2007

Queenie

:hello: Welcome to January's Pin Money Savings Challenge 2007

Bit of a late start in posting but better late than never
Depending on how well organised you've been (financially) this could either be a very difficult month to squirrel away any pin money, or, it could be a fabulous month if taking advantage of the sales. Either way, best of luck for those who continue to pinch those pennies and squeeze those pounds in all the many different ways to see their PMS pot grow

Good luck for January everyone! :beer:

Queenie wrote:

This is our "Pin Money Savings Challenge" - a very old style way of money 'saving'. The old adage: "Take care of the pennies and the pounds will take care of themselves" is as true today as ever it's been and so has the old style idea of "Pin Money" (tucking away pennies to buy the odd luxury - in reality, that pin money literally saved the day when families lived payday to payday or the breadwinner was made redundant!)

Once you've set up your budgets (here's Martins article on the basics of budgeting for those who may not have done so yet) you'll know where you're at with your income/outgoings.
Some of you will already have earmarked amounts to tackle your debt problems (if you have them. Here is Martins article on Problem Debts) and some of you may even have set up regular savings.(Martins article on Starting Saving)

There's a danger that those "savings" are being swallowed up elsewhere and never really knowing just how beneficial those nips and tucks have been in reality or benefitting from them. This is pin money and we should know how much we're accumilating; We should be able to tap into that money and benefit from it; we've earned it by making cost cutting choices!

First, choose a goal. Think about what you want to save for. Maybe it's something relatively small that would actually help you to save more money in the future.

For example: I used some Tesco vouchers in January which saved me £28 on my monthly shopping bill - at the till I got that £28 via cashback and then I bought a breadmaker in another shop which was on sale. The breadmaker is saving me money as I don't go to the shops as often to pick up a loaf and end up tempted into buying extra's while I'm there plus it saves on petrol through less trips.

Maybe you wish for something larger - a family holiday? A dishwasher? A newer car? These items may take longer to save up for, but they are still attainable.

Where is your pin money coming from? A variety of ways ...

Coupons/Vouchers: You can't bank on coupons when you draw up your household budget, so view them as bonus'.
If you normally spent £50 per week on groceries and that week you have coupons which reduce your bill by x amount, that x amount becomes your pin money savings. Put the same value of the coupons into your pin money.

Bogof's: If it's on your usual shopping list and you are able to get it on bogof - put the cash value of the saving into your pin money.

Freebies: I've put some of these into my gift box store; I can't bank on freebies to provide my gift needs (gift purchases are accounted for in my budget planning already) so they are also bonus' - so, the cash equivalent can go to your pin money.

The monthly food challenge:
Take a look through the Storecupboard Challenge and/or the Monthly Grocery Challenge. If you find your food bill reducing, put that extra into your pin money.

Tips from here: Cleaning: E.g. Vinegar as a fabric softener; if you stop buying fabric softener, work out the saving (you'll need to deduct the cost of the vinegar you are replacing it with) and put that amount into your pin money.

Make it from Scratch: Look through the recipe collection and see if you can make it/bake it cheaper.

Research your purchases! - before you buy anything have a look through the Shop but Don't Dropand Quick Grabbit While You Canforums to see if you can get it cheaper (utilise the "search" facility within those forums too). If all else fails, try posting in I Wanna Buy-It, Do-It forum, someone else may know of the best deal on what you're looking for.

At the end of each month, empty out your pin money and transfer that to a savings account (this way it can now begin to earn a bit of interest = more pin money! )
The start of the next month, you will know how much you've shaved off your basic grocery bill (this applies to the food/fabric softener example, not those unbankable freebies/bogof's/coupons) so begin by putting that into your pin money.

Each month we can post what we have saved money on and added to our pin money.

What if things are soooooo tight that every saving you make each week can't be put away because it's needed elsewhere?

Not a problem, you can still keep a record but instead of cash this will be your "virtual" savings. It will be very encouraging to see how much you are "saving" by making small changes, even if you can't put away the actual cash.

Some of you have already absorbed these savings into your budget and recalculated accordingly, that's ok, this challenge still applies because any new ideas/tips that you pick up can now be utilised for your pin money.


Clarification of Virtual Savings

Let me give you an example:

Suppose I've worked out my budget and menu plan for the week and one of the items, I know, will cost me, say, £1.99. Off I go with my list. When I'm at the store, I find a pack of something else, reduced to £1.99 instead of the usual £2.99. So, I snap it up!

I have made a saving of £1

However, I didn't *have* £2.99 in the first place; therefore I would never have bought it. I could *only* buy it, because it was the same price that I had available to spend. (The original £1.99). In reality, I haven't saved any hard cash. But that doesn't mean I haven't saved. That is where *virtual* savings come into play.


By simply snapping up a bargain and not spending anymore than I usually do, I've bought something a little better that I couldn't normally afford.

I don't want to lose sight of the fact that I've saved that £1 by being more shopping savvy.

So, I record it as a *virtual* saving ...

... not *real hard cash* but a saving nonetheless.

The term, *virtual* saving, is a bit like "virtual reality" LOL


It can be quite demoralising if, week after week, some of our MSE'er are really working at pinching those pennies and squeezing those pounds - this way, at the end of the year, they can still see that - hey, it's working!

Now, should I find my budgeted £1.99 item reduced to 99p THEN I have £1 in cold hard cash that can be put away into the pin money savings.

I hope that makes it a bit clearer. If not, don't hesitate to ask any more questions.

squeaky

Hi everyone

Queenie doesn't seem to be about at the moment so I've copied an earlier starter post to get you under way.

cha97michelle

Thanks squeaky.

Count me in for a target of £20. I need to be seriously tightfisted this month. I need to reign in the grocery budget i think, and take better advantage of vouchers.


Michelle. x

scuzz

The on going pot continues to grow, up to nearly £400 now:j

Good luck everyone

squeaky

Hi everyone

Just a reminder that I'll be unsticking this thread some time late today - by which time it'll be the featured challenge in our Monthly Challenges sticky.

You can find the challenges via the link in my signature any time you see it or...

..you can use the Monthly Challenges link in the Blue Bar at the top of every page which looks something like this:-

cha97michelle

Fantastic start to the month. I won a pigsback quiz so i claimed a £10 boots voucher and will probably use it to buy baby rice or some other suitable food for weaning the baby.

Third time since August. Lucky me. And i am not normally lucky at all.

Michelle, x

magni

I'm joining in again this month. Sticking to my target of £15 but it will probably be mostly virtual money.

EagerLearner

I am really up for PIN - did some in January but as I joined the Olympic Challenge too, my focus was on that...

I now intend to put any PIN savings into a separate account that will act as an 'emergency float' for our joint account at the end of the month, if we need it, rather than us going overdrawn.

Last month as we paid no council tax, we put £100 into savings, so that's technically PIN, right? This month we intend to do the same, then March too. Fingers crossed it will happen, but then there are some verrrry tempting pans I want to by, that are verrrrry expensive...

cha97michelle

Current total is £31.79. I think i will change my target to £40 for the month.

And this was the month that i wasn't meant to buy very much. It will get less as the months go on, as it is my last pay packet next month until september, so the belt tightening will have to commence.

Michelle, x